Explosion reported after Anwar courthouse evacuated in bomb scare

February 22, 1999
Web posted at: 1:42 a.m. EST (0642 GMT)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Reuters) -- Witnesses said an explosion was heard Monday after Malaysian authorities evacuated a wing of the courthouse where sacked finance minister Anwar Ibrahim's trial is being held.

A bomb disposal squad was sent in after a suspicious box was found, lawyers said.

Court officials, lawyers, reporters and spectators stood
outside the two-storey building in the center of the capital
after the bomb squad arrived at about 1:20 p.m. (0520 GMT).
Anwar's corruption trial had earlier been adjourned for lunch.

High Court Judge Augustine Paul, who is presiding over
Anwar's trial, stood outside the building as the bomb squad
investigated.

Sulaiman Abdullah, one of Anwar's lawyers, said a suspicious
looking box had been found in a corridor of the court complex.

Anwar, who was sacked in September, has pleaded not guilty
to 10 counts of corruption and sexual misconduct in a trial that
has exposed deep political divisions in the country. The High
Court has been examining four corruption counts since the trial
started in November.

In a nearby court building, a royal commission investigating
injuries Anwar sustained after being arrested started public
hearings on Monday.